


Thoughts of a Lizard

by Fabrisse



Category: Cinderella (2015)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-20
Updated: 2017-12-20
Packaged: 2019-02-17 13:42:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13078071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fabrisse/pseuds/Fabrisse
Summary: One of the footmen is a bit adventurous.





	Thoughts of a Lizard

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Bahamut255](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bahamut255/gifts).



Things move wrong. How do humans do it, stand on only two legs? No wonder they can’t find the best holes to shelter in or scamper up trees to find the juiciest bugs. On the other hand, they _are_ tall enough to see more of the world, and to know just how much more world there is.

***   
He knew he wasn’t a newt, but it still seemed like a good name. He’d never needed a name as a lizard, but humans used them to tell themselves apart, so, in his own head he was the new human, Newt.

“Where are you going?” Mister Goose honked. “I can’t handle this pumpkin on my own.”

Newt thought for a moment, then smiled. “Call of nature, Mister Goose. I’ll be back.”

The walking wasn’t too bad once he got used to it, but he did miss his tail. He could move more swiftly, more gracefully with his tail to balance him, but he supposed humans couldn’t miss what they’d never had. 

***   
Coming back, Newt heard Mister Goose lamenting to the other footman, “And she didn’t even ask us.”

Newt said, “Ask us what?”

“There you are! You’ve been … a long time. What if Miss Ella had needed us to go back? What then?”

“Did she need us, Mister Goose?” Newt asked.

“Well, no, but she might have and then there would have been trouble.”

“It didn’t happen, so trouble can wait for another day.”

Mister Goose puffed out his chest and adjusted his shoulders, looking for all the world like the gander he was. It made Newt wonder if the others could tell that just a few hours earlier, he’d been a lizard in Miss Ella’s garden.

With wide eyes, his fellow lizard asked, “What did you see out there?”

“Humans. They are very funny animals indeed.”

“No tails,” said the other lizard sagely.

“That, and…” Newt gathered his thoughts. “You know how Miss Ella sometimes sings to herself and walks not in a straight line, but curving and turning around?”

Even the horses nodded at that. Newt noted that Gus-Gus had already finished his nosebag and kept tossing his head to try to find more oats at the bottom.

Mister Goose added, “I’ve heard them call it dancing.”

“Yes. Well. First of all, I took a peek into the gardens and walked up the steps to the terrace.”

The others leaned forward, gripped by his words.

“You hear that?”

They craned their necks.

“That,” Newt said, “Is singing but without the words. Rather than open their mouths, as Miss Ella does, they have objects to make the sounds.”

The gander nodded to himself. “I went into the house once, before that horrid Lucifer tried to eat me. Took all my best feathers, he did. It was ages before they grew back.” He saw the others staring at him. “Oh, yes, I saw one of those objects in the house. Miss Drisella was running her hands on it and laughing at the cat taking my feathers, but I heard the Lady call it … a _piano._ ”

Newt said, “There was one of those. It sounded a lot different than when Miss Drisella is at it, but there were other things, too. Some had strings. Others the humans were putting in their mouths and huffing into. One man kept hitting things, but it sounded good, not painful or anything. It was,” he groped for the right word. He thought of Miss Ella and found it. “It was lovely.”

“Is that all you found,” his lizard companion asked.

“No, I was getting to that,” Newt said. “That dancing as Mister Goose called it, big groups of humans are doing it all together.”

“Don’t they run into each other?”

“No, they don’t. They face each other and everyone moves in the same direction at the same speed. It doesn’t make any sense. And there were other pairs, moving about in the garden, pressing their faces together. Humans are very odd.”

“I don’t believe you,” Mister Goose said.

“You don’t think humans are odd?” Newt asked. “Well, you’re already used to walking on only two legs. Is that the reason?”

“No, humans are very odd indeed,” Mister Goose said. “Very odd.” There was a slight honk to his voice. “No, what I don’t believe is that humans stand face to face and move in the same direction. They must run into each other at some point.”

“Not that I saw.”

“Perhaps a demonstration,” Newt’s fellow lizard said.

“All right.” Newt tugged at Mister Goose’s arm and got him to his feet. “Now put your left hand up.”

Mister Goose looked at him blankly.

“It’s at the end of your wing.”

Mister Goose held up his hand, and Newt said, “That’s right, and put your other hand here.” He pulled at the goose’s arm until his hand was at his waist. Newt clasped the hand in the air, and put his left hand on Mister Goose’s shoulder. “Now I move backward, and you move forward at the same time.” They immediately tripped over each other’s feet.

“I don’t know how to dance. I’m a goose.”

“Let me try,” his fellow lizard said as he took the goose’s place.

“Can you hear the music,” Newt asked.

The other lizard nodded and they began to move. Newt was positive it would be more graceful, if they still had their tails to help their balance. But they stayed in time with the music and managed to startle one of the horses when they moved past.

“It’ll never catch on,” Mister Goose said. 

***   
Something deep in all their bones told them it was near midnight. The horses stamped restively, and Mister Goose told the lizards to hop on board the pumpkin so that they could be ready the moment Miss Ella came out the door.

The first bong of the bell sounded just as Mister Goose halted the coach. 

Newt’s friend said, “I won’t miss the hat.”

Newt said, “And I think life is better with a tail.”

“Do you think we’ll remember it?”

Newt thought as the bell was struck again. “I hope so. I like knowing that the world is bigger than our wall or even the entire back garden.”

“But we’d miss it then, wouldn’t we? If we remembered.”

Another note sounded across the night. 

Newt thought about the question and finally said, “I think missing it is better than never knowing.”

They heard Mister Goose say, “There’s Miss Ella. Oh, dear, why has she stopped? We’ll never make it home at this rate.”

Newt hopped down and opened the door for Miss Ella, hanging on for dear life as Mister Goose slapped the reins to get the horses moving. He could feel his tail beginning to grow and was happy.


End file.
